Can the Angels get to Hernandez again?

[caption id="attachment_124432" align="alignright" width="350" caption="Felix Hernandez is 10-5 with a 2.63 ERA. Will he push Jered Weaver (15-1, 2.13) for the Cy Young this year? No way, you say? Many thought that in 2010, when Hernandez beat out David Price to win it despite a 13-12 record. (AP Photo/Kathy Kmonicek)"][/caption]

The last time the Angels faced Mariners right-handed starter Felix Hernandez, they roughed him up for 10 hits and two homers, including Alberto Callaspo's sixth-inning, pinch-hit grand slam, in a 5-3 Angels victory in Seattle on May 26.

That was when the Angels were really in a groove, turning around their season from an 18-25 start with their fifth straight victory.

Things have changed a lot since then. The Angels haven't won more than two in a row since June (a four-game streak in Baltimore and Toronto from June 24-28). Meantime, Hernandez, the 2010 AL Cy Young winner, is looking as if he'll give Jered Weaver some competition in this year's race. Hernandez is 6-0 with a 1.41 ERA over his last 10 starts (12ER in 76.1 IP).

When Hernandez takes the mound Friday night (7:05 start) to begin a three-game series at the Big A, he'll have the benefit of five days' rest. His last start was a true gem -- a two-hit 1-0 shutout at Yankee Stadium.

"I think any pitcher, no matter if they're in an elite class like Hernandez, (Justin) Verlander or Weaver or any of the elite pitchers, there's gonna be games where it doesn't click, and games where you get hit," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said of Hernandez in that May game that now seems so long ago. "But he's good. You're gonna have to earn every hitting count, you're gonna have to earn every base hit, and he's not gonna give in. He's gonna continue to do what he does as far as pounding good pitches. You just have to be ready for it."

The Seattle Times' Geoff Baker has more on Hernandez and how some of his wonkier stats compare to Weaver's.

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